Princess Eugenia Travels to Haapsalu

Katrin SeppEstonian Theatre in Gothenburg - Manager / heatre director In September, as part of Ilon Wikland’s exhibition at the Gothenburg Art Museum, a concert performance titled Princess Eugeenia’s Sea Journey was held to commemorate the Great Flight of 1944 across the Baltic Sea. The concert performance was carried out in cooperation with Estonian organisations in Gothenburg. A huge share of the work was done by members of the Estonian Theatre in Gothenburg and the Estonian Language Club in Gothenburg. The project involved a total of 27 performers, three generations of actors. The youngest was 6-year-old Nora-Lii Meedt and the oldest was 88-year-old Lille Orlov. The story of Princess Eugeenia is based on the childhood memories of former members of the Estonian Theatre in Gothenburg and how they perceived and understood the escape by boats. The stories gathered over the years were presented through the eyes of the six-year-old Eugeenia. The story is about a mother’s decision to keep her concerns to herself as an adult and to tell her children that they have received an unexpected invitation from a Swedish princess. Children’s imagination helps them create a world where danger and frontlines are far away and anticipation carries them all the way to a Swedish shore. Of course, Eugeenia and her brother Mats can’t keep this secret to themselves and share their travel plans with friends. Many of them have secretly listened in on adults speaking in hushed tones in their homes. Based on their age, children have realized that parents are busy with plans to travel across the sea, but younger children are not aware of the real reason. Some older children have realised that the trip is actually an escape across the Baltic Sea, and saying goodbye to friends feels sad and scary. So they stand and wave on the beach, overcome with mixed feelings. Some of them are not aware they would only meet again on the soil of a foreign country. Some of them will never meet again.Ilon Wikland’s exhibition inspired us all to create this story and created a special atmosphere for conveying the message. Musicians Pille-Rite Rei, Merje Kägu, Juuli Kõrre, Maria Mänd and Lars Rosengren performed musical pieces that gave the audience an opportunity to stop their gaze on the pictures and get a sense of the world of children. The memorial concert in September became the main event of the Gothenburg Art Museum to highlight the biography of the beloved artist and the background of many of her drawings. Enel Melberg, who translated Marie Under’s poem The Refugee, also lent a helping hand.The whole project piqued the interest of a delegation of Ilon’s Wonderland during their visit to Gothenburg and cooperation with the Estonian Theatre in Gothenburg was launched in the spring of 2025. On 7 July, Princess Eugeenia’s Sea Journey will be performed at Ilon’s Wonderland in Haapsalu. On 20 August, the drama circle of Haapsalu’s Youth Hobby Centre will visit Gothenburg and give its performance Ilon’s Pencils Draw at the Estonian House in Gothenburg. With this, the drama circle will wrap up their nine years of work because the last class of secondary school has graduated and the young people are all going their separate ways.At the same time, the Estonian Theatre in Gothenburg is steadily approaching its awe-inspiring 80th anniversary. The theatre troupe was founded in 1947 by refugees and it is one of the few refugee theatres still active.